


True Love’s Kiss…True Love’s Sorrow

by HandwithQuill



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Maybe if you squint at the ending it might be hopeful, No Really-There's notihng but Angst here, Read at Own Risk, There is violence in here, just not what I would call graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8258522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandwithQuill/pseuds/HandwithQuill
Summary: For my 400 followers prompt-a-thon over on Tumblr, frenchroast007 said: “Prompt: TLK with Rumple wakes Belle.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N 1: I am sorry. I’ am so, so, so sorry! I know for a fact that this is NOT what you wanted when you gave me the prompt!
> 
> A/N 2: I came up with this idea sometime during the summer, But didn’t think I could write it before the season started, so this is some other version of season six. NOT EMMA, HOOK or SNOWING FRIENDLY!!!!
> 
> A/N:3 this was looked over by the ever wonderful @little-inkstone, but any remaining mistakes are mine!

The street was quiet in the aftermath of Dr. Jekyll absorbing Hyde back into himself. Jekyll was lying on the ground, unconscious, the fight now internal for him. Regina lowered her hands from where she and Emma had been ready to blast Hyde to keep him still if their plan didn’t work. Ever since she’s taken back the Evil Queen, her magic had been a little bit more stable, but in accepting her darkness, she was also able to control it. It wasn’t pressing against her consciousness and she could push aside the more nasty thought it gave her. It also let her notice something else.

She stood there and watched Emma, Hook and her parents congratulate each other on stopping Hyde while Rumplestiltskin was still sitting on the ground where the magical backlash of his freezing Hyde in place so Jekyll could make his move sent him flying. She watched as he stood up a heaved a great sigh, before walking over to a bench in front of Granny’s diner. He reached into a pocket and pulled something out. She gasped when she saw it was Pandora’s Box. with a wave of his hand, a red smoke spiraled out of the box and left Belle laying on the bench. Regina watched her former teacher close his eyes before he leaned down and kissed his wife lightly.

The pearlescent, rainbow colored woosh of True Love raided out from them to hover shimmering in the air. At the same time, Rumplestiltskin fell to the ground as oily black strands of darkness spilled out of him. It hovered in the sky and Regina felt her heart sink, looking around in horror, trying to figure out who it would try to posses since Rumplestiltskin and Belle’s True Love expelled it from him.

But what no one was expecting was the lingering wisps of True Love Magic released by their kiss surrounding the Dark One’s Curse. It was a fight against pure Light and Dark Magic that Belle awoke to as back and forth the ropes of darkness twined and twisted with True Love. she was standing by the time the Light encompassed the darkness and stuffed it out. The Light faded, leaving behind a feeling of euphoria that had everyone laughing and hugging.

Belle could feel it too and looked around for her husband. She caught sight of him limping his way to his shop.

“Rumple!” she called, running after him. She was slightly surprised to see Regina running with her. But her attention was on watching Rumple enter the Pawnshop. They made it to the door when the whole building shimmered.

“Wait!” Regina said, stopping her when she tried to reach for the doorknob and raised her hands, examining the magic barrier. “These wards are different.”

“Can you get passed them?”

“No, they’re…they are not blood wards, but close.”

She turned her head, slowly working her way through the layers, when the shimmering around the building pulsed and a gentle but insistent force pushed them away from the door and into the street. Regina was shaking her head.

“What was that?” Belle asked.

“The wards reacting. If it was someone he liked less than us, or well, probably you, the reaction would have been a lot more explosive.”

“There is no way you can get through them?”

The former Evil Queen shook her head.

“No. As I said, they are close to blood wards in that they will only respond to close relations. I think…I think the only person beside Rumple who can get in there would be his son.”

Both were quiet for a moment before Regina placed a hand on Belle’s shoulder.

“Not only have I’ve known Rumple longer than you, but I think I might understand him a little better right now. One of the reasons the two of you work and have difficulties, is that you are too different. For you, when a problem happens, you rush in, wanting to fix it right away. Rumple needs to step back, think things through.” She squeezed the librarian’s shoulder “Give him some time.”

Belle watched the other woman walk away, knowing that part of her was right. Belle and Rumple were different. Extrovert and Introvert in the terms of this world. They needed each other to work well, needed each other’s differences. So why was she trying to make him act like her? She rested her hand on her stomach were their child was growing. She would give him his space, just like he always did with her. But not too long, because he needed her not to dwell on the bad things, just like she needed him to keep her idealism grounded in reality. With one backwards glance, she walked away from the Pawnshop and made her way to the Library.

The problem she realized three months later, was that even without magic, if Rumplestiltskin didn’t want to be seen, he wasn’t. She leaned back against the door to the library, her hand over the slight baby bump she now had and watched the pawnshop. The wards still shimmered whenever someone stepped to close and the children had made a game of seeing who could get the closest or ever getting too close and letting the wards push them off the sidewalk.

She had tried to get into the shop a few more times, both at the front door and the back. Sometimes as she sat in the windowseat of the apartment above the Library she thought she could see movement and light coming from the back room. The lights in the front of the store were never on. She checked the house once a week, but all she ever found was an increasing layer of dust, so she knew he was living in the back of the shop. For this reason alone she was sure that he left the building at some point for no other reason than to get food.

And because of this she was standing in the dark hollow of the library while the rest of the town slept. After the last bout of morning sickness, she had promised the little one that they would see Papa today. The night was quiet, only the occasional distant beat of music wafting from the Rabbit Hole as the door was opened. Which was why the sound of someone tripping coming from the alleyway directly across from the library made her jump.

Squinting into the darkness she could just make out a person. They stood in their own shadow and looked both ways before leaving the safety of the alleyway. Belle covered her gasp as she took Rumple in. His suit was in disarray, seemingly two sizes too big. His limp seemed worse and from his profile she could just make out the dark circles under his eyes. He had a few plastic shopping bags hanging over one wrist, while he used his other hand to press against the buildings he passed to keep upright as he limped back towards the shop.

She was deciding if it would be better to call out to him and risk him hurrying away from her or to approach and surprise him. But she never got the chance as suddenly he froze, shoulders tensing and hunching in as he looked frantically around himself before hurrying to his shop. She sighed and turned to go up to her apartment when laughter echoed in the night and two young men exited the alleyway that Rumple had come out of. She frowned and an unsettled feeling overcame her, but she couldn’t say why.

That feeling was still with her two weeks later and it was keeping her awake. With a sigh she rolled out of bed and decided to take a walk down by the dock. If she expected the peaceful night to quiet her mind, she was wrong. As soon as she stepped on the dock, she heard a scuffle. Running towards it, she saw a group of young men standing around someone on the ground. From their dress, she could tell they were from the Land of Untold Stories. The men were laughing and cheering on one with red hair as he pulled back his foot and kicked the man on the ground, who was curled into a ball, hands protecting his head. He grunted with the kick, but didn’t move, didn’t fight back.

“Hey!” she yelled as the redhead went to kick again. “Stop!”

The men with him tried to pull him away, but he ignored them, raising his leg and stomping down on Rumple’s, and she’d _known_ it was her husband from the beginning, bad ankle.

He screamed, coming out of his protective ball to clutch at his leg. Belle ran to Rumple and stood over him, ready to fight if she needed to. But she didn’t have to.

“Come on!” one of young man‘s friends said, “He’s not worth it. Beside, it’s just Rumplestiltskin. We can chase him down again later.”

She stood there until they had walked away and turned back to Rumple, but he was no longer on the ground. He was a few feet away, using the railing to help him limp his way back to town. She looked around for his cane, but not seeing it, she hurried to catch up to him. She froze when he flinched from her, ducking his head and pulling in his shoulders as if expecting a blow, when she reached for his shoulder.

“Rumple,” she said softly, “it’s just me.”

He didn’t respond at first, but his softly spoken response caused her heart to sink to her feet and crumble into a million pieces and for her eyes to fill with tears.

“I know.”

Did he _really_ think she would hurt him? He didn’t turn towards her, just continued on, bracing on the railing and hopping forward on his good foot. She dashed the tears from her eyes again with the heel of her palm and caught up to him again.

“Please, Rumple,” she asked, “let me help you?”

He sighed, his shoulders dropping in defeat, he still hadn’t looked at her, his hair covering his face, but he lifted his arm enough for her to get her shoulder under it. It was slow going but they managed to get back to the backdoor of the pawn shop.

He reached for door and the wards shimmered briefly before he grasped the doorknob. He hesitated before going in, tilting his head slightly towards her to look at her out of his curtain of hair, then with another sigh, he let her help him into the backroom.

It was changed greatly since the last time she was in it. All the bits and pieces that he tinkered with were piled on shelves along the edge of the room, his work table stood on it’s end, the surface facing the doorway to the front room, a barrier to keep anyone out. A mini-fridge was now in one corner with a hotplate on top of it. What looked like enough clothes for two suits were lying in a pile on the floor next to the minuscule bathroom.

He let go of her and hopped the few steps to the queen sized bed that now took up most of the space in the room. He slumped down on it, holding his bad foot off the ground.

She knelt in front of him and gently tried to ease off his shoes, whispering ‘sorry’ every time he whimpered in pain. When it and his sock was off, she divested him of the other one and stood up to look for something to splint it with for right now. He pointed her over to the shelves where two pieces of wood just the right size and rope were sitting. Once done, she looked for the first aid kit. She found it on the bathroom sink and gasped when she turned around.

He had taken off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. For the first time that night she could see his face. She dropped the first aid kit as she covered her mouth, her other arm wrapping around her waist as she suddenly felt nauseous.

What she has thought the other night was dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights was two healing back eyes. There was a long jagged cut along his cheek that looked like he stitched it up himself. His nose was crooked and had dried blood crusting it while a little still dripped from it. But it was his chest that she couldn’t tear her eyes from. It was a mottled kaleidoscope of blues, purples, yellows and greens.

“That can’t all be from tonight!”

“Of course not,” he calmly told her. “I’m Rumplestiltskin.”

She shook her head, not understanding, and knelt in front of him, opening the kit and started cleaning up the cuts on his face. He sat there, not saying anything,hands laying on his knees, no more than a mannequin in front of her. She winced every time he hissed at the antiseptic, but didn’t stop until there was no more blood on his face, fresh or dried. She examined the rest of his injuries but determined that the only thing for them was time. She picked up the used wipes and threw them away, returning the kit to the bathroom.

This time she sat on the bed next to him, her hand hovering for a second before she sunk her fingers into his hair. She cupped the back of his head, letting her fingertips massage his scalp. She watched as his eyelids fluttered before closing.

“Tell me?” she asked quietly.

“What’s there to tell?” She sighed, thinking that even now he wasn’t letting her in, but she frowned when he continued. “I’m Rumplestiltskin.”

“You say that like it’s the explanation of what’s happening?”

“Isn’t it?” he asked “What other explanation would there be.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“Who were they?” she asked. If she could find out why they attacked him, she could stop it. But he just shrugged.

“Don’t know. Never seen them before tonight.”

“You’ve never…” She trailed off when he looked at her and she could tell he was telling the truth. He didn’t know who they were.

“Why would they just…” She waved her hand at his bruised chest.

He shrugged again.

“Why not? I’m powerless, they were not. Why wouldn’t it happen? They were probably bored and wanted to prove their prowess.”

Belle shook her head, refusing to believe that anyone would do that. People didn’t just beat up people for no reason!

Rumple was the one to sigh this time, shifting away from her, shoulders slumping. He was closing himself off again. 

“Believe what you want, Belle.” he told her, sounding defeated. “Everyone does. If it makes you feel better to think that somewhere in my nefarious past, I’ve hurt them somehow, go ahead. That’s what anyone else would have assumed, and just let them continue.”

“No!” she reached for him again, “Rumple, no! If this is happening and you can’t stop it,tell someone! I’m sure Emma would-”

She cut off as he tilted his head back and laughed. Full out belly laughed. Laughed until he had to wrap one arm around his waist and brace himself on the mattress.

“Rumple?”

“You think your precious _Heroes_ would do anything?” he demanded,voice turning vicious as he sat up. He shrugged off his shirt and presented his back to her. It was crisscrossed with puckered lines. Some red and still healing, some white scars. “Your pirate friend is very good with his namesake!”

“No!” she gasped

“Oh, Yes!” He turned back to her. “He was the first! Cornered me a week after I woke you up. He and Miss Swan was coming out of the diner. Going on about how I was a villain, not like _**him**_ , and I’d get what a villain deserved. He held me down and raked his hook up and down my back! And all the while, Miss Swan just stood there! I’ll give that she looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t try to stop him!”

He stopped talking and the anger fell off his face as his eyes filled with tears and his lips trembled.

“It was the only time I was glad my son was dead. I never want him to see what the woman he loved has become.” He bent in half, hands grabbing his hair as he cried. She pulled him to her and he wrapped his arms around her waist and continued to sob into her lap.

“Rumple,” she breathed, petting his head, tears streaming down her face as she listened to him.

“I know I deserve all this Belle. I’ve never been a good person, but I just want it to stop. Make it stop, please? I don’t deserve happiness, and I don’t even want it. I just don’t want to hurt anymore. Isn’t three hundred years of pain enough to make up for the mistake of being born? I’ve lost everything and I’ve deserved to, but I’m so _tired_! Please, Belle? Please make everything stop. Make it stop and let me _,b >rest_.”

Belle was sobbing herself now and held her husband as he cried out a lifetime’s worth of pain. Story after story spilled out of him, from his childhood with his father, up to when she found him tonight. It was as open as he’d ever been with her and, as he fell asleep, something that needed to be done. She had no idea how he held so much pain inside for so long. With some finagling, she got him onto the bed, reaching out him every time he whimpered, and slid in next to him. She pressed a kiss to his lips, grinning against them as burst of True Love magic filled the air. In the morning, they would talk and some things in this town would change!


End file.
